Weekend re-cap and some Penny Lane action

Fall FINALLY made an appearance in Tampa last weekend, and it's been such a nice change. I love the cold weather - nothing is more disappointing that seeing my friends up north post pictures of themselves in scarves and boots while standing in front of red and orange-leaved trees, while I have to blast the A/C on high down here since it's still in the upper 80's. Leaving our windows open and the smell of Fall in the air is the best thing!

Last week, my sister came to town and we all went to the Lightning home opener. They lost but it was still a fun time! This weekend was USF's homecoming game so we went out on Saturday morning to tailgate with some friends. We weren't going to the game so of course we brought Penny, decked out in her little Bulls dress. Saturday afternoon, we went to Frenchy's, a restaurant out on Clearwater beach, not too far from where we got married. Every year on a weekend in October, they do their stone crab fest, where they sell stone crabs for a penny over cost. We usually go every year since we love stone crabs! Some friends joined us this time and we were definitely stuffed by the time we left.

Go Bulls!

Mmm...crabs, get in my belly!

This Wednesday, there is an event in the evening that Humane Society sponsors. It's basically an excuse for you to enjoy live music, the great weather and have some drinks while toting your pet around in a costume. I took Penny shopping for a costume and it turns out she hates having anything on her head. Everything else I found was close to $30! Sorry, Petco, I'm not paying that much for a piece of material that my dog will probably take off and chew to pieces. So I decided to let my crafty juices flow and I made her a butterfly costume. She likes to chase them outside and the fact that I only spent $11 for supplies to make it, makes it a winner in my book. I have to put some finishing touches on it, but I'll be sure to post pics later on this week.

In the meantime, I'll leave you with this video of Penny from Friday. She loves to run around in the back yard and since it's fenced in, we'll put her out there and let her play and get some exercise. On Friday, I went out to check on her and found that she was having the best time ever with a random plastic bag that the wind blew into our yard. It was pretty amusing and kept her occupied for a long time. And no, you don't need to turn your speakers up. As much as she's battling the bag, what you're hearing is the silent joy of having a barkless dog (for those who don't believe that Basenjis don't bark). Enjoy :)

Watch the video here!

Penny's 15 minutes of fame!

Since I'm a big supporter of the Humane Society, I get their newsletters and mailings every month. They have a section called "Happy Tails" where people can write in their stores about their adoption experience. I decided to write one up for Penny and submit it. To our surprise, they added it to the front page of their October e-newsletter! I didn't expect to open up my email and see her little smiling face there :)

Here's a screen shot of the email page and you can read her story here.

Two month hiatus

Sorry sorry sorry for the lack of posts. It's been a busy 2 months (when are we NOT busy??). I had a work trip to San Antonio (a.k.a the hottest place ever) in August. We had Gator Rompin' which is Tampa Gator Club's big event of the year. We also re-did our backyard and it looks awesome! We put pavers down and created a patio with a covered canopy and a fire pit. We can't wait until the weather gets cooler so we can use it.

At the end of  September, I had a work trip in New Orleans that Mike joined me on and it was a lot of fun! We ate so much...New Orleans definitely has some of the BEST food I've ever eaten! I could live off seafood and cajun food. Yum! We did  a lot of walking to make up for it though! NOLA is a very interesting place - lots of history, lots of old buildings. I love places like that. I'd definitely go back again!

Penny graduated from Puppy School. She did well but still has a few things to learn so she's taking the next step up and we're enrolling her in obedience training. Potty training is about 99% there and she does well with sit/lay down. Crate training totally went out the door since she gets anxiety in the crate, so we now share our bed with a 12 pound ball of fur. We take her to lots of dog parks and try to socialize her as much as possible and she does really well with other dogs! She did excellent on her first road trip. We took her to Gainesville this past weekend and she slept the entire time to and from in the car, and did great when we left her in my sister's apartment.

We're now in October with is BIRTHDAY MONTH! Mike's birthday was this past Sunday, October 2nd. I threw a party for him Friday night and then I happened to win tickets to the UF game on Saturday, so we went up there for the weekend. My birthday is next on the 13th, followed by my dad on the 14th, mom on the 16th and sister on the 18th. I am vowing to try as hard as I can to NOT have kids in October! I don't think we can handle another birthday!

Since I've been MIA on the blog for awhile, here are some new pics of Penny and some of our trip to NOLA. I promise to get back on track with the posting!

Penny says "GO BULLS!"

She also cheers for her dad's team :)

My latest project for our front door.

Smiling away!

Acme Oyster House - NOLA

The best oysters EVER!

The classiness of Bourbon Street.

Probably the best gumbo I've tasted, not to mention one of the best sandwiches too!

Loved seeing buildings like this all over NOLA. So pretty!

St. Louis Cathedral

My 5-times great grandfather. Cool huh?

Local brewery "beer flight."

My favorite - crawfish! I could eat pounds of these...

Alligator, sausage and shrimp cheesecake appetizer. Don't knock it til you try it!

Beautiful Tulane University - my dad's alma mater :)

My dad's old frat house!

Who ate more crawfish? Yep. That would be me...

Where Mike won $1,000 Saturday morning while I was working.